Contents

PLOS Biology has a broad scope and looks to publish high profile original research in all fields of Biology.[1][3]

"The founders of PLoS Biology have set their sights high in terms of the quality of the research they intend to publish. Their goal is to publish high-profile original research of great significance in all fields of Biology and in crossover areas with other disciplines."

In addition to research articles, PLOS Biology publishes magazine content via a selection of named article types. These include Essays, Unsolved Mysteries, Editorials and Synopses.[4][5] The magazine section of PLOS Biology aims to make science accessible to a broad audience. These articles are directed at a readership that extends beyond the traditional research community and that includes scientific educators, students and the interested public.[1]

Using CC-BY, PLOS authors retain ownership of the copyright for their article, but anyone can download, reuse, reprint, modify and/or distribute articles, as long as the original authors and source are cited. No permission is required from the authors or the publishers.[9][10]

Mike Taylor of Discover Magazine said in 2012 that while PLOS Biology has a high impact factor, "PLoS has de-emphasized this traditional, problematic measure, so you won’t find this fact blazoned across their website."[11]

PLOS Biology uses "Article Level Metrics" (a suite of altmetrics) to provide a measure of the impact of their published articles.[12] PLOS Biology articles display numbers of page views, downloads, citations, social bookmarking and dissemination activity, media and blog coverage.[13][14][15]